By: Levi Opsatnic
With the fall season beginning to show the first sign of its face, I’ve been taking advantage of any outdoorsy fun that I can. That said, I don’t always have a full day to commit to enjoying myself, so a short hike through Rothrock or another surrounding area is usually all that I need. Even though these hikes don’t usually break more than three or four miles, I still like to be prepared with the essentials—water, a snack, an emergency headlamp, a knife, and maybe a light jacket—just in case something unexpected pops up. After working my way through the summer/spring season with a sling type pack from Patagonia, I began searching for a pack to better fit this bill. I wanted something under fifteen or twenty liters, and I didn’t want to invest an arm and a leg into the purchase. After a bit of searching, I stumbled onto Osprey’s Daylite Pack, and was almost immediately sold.
To keep things light but spacious enough, this pack offers thirteen liters of storage for the price of fifty bucks; throw in a range of cool colors and Osprey’s All Mighty warranty guarantee, and you’ll see that this pack is pretty much a no-brainer for what I was looking for.
After settling on a color, I took this pack home and went on my first adventure with it. The destination was a small brook trout stream in a local forest. I was able to stash a jacket, a few granola bars, a fly box, a spool of tippet, a water bottle, and my hemostats with ease; in fact, I even had some extra storage. During the first trip with this pack, I immediately got excited about the two simple pockets. One that’s large enough to store the big things and one that’s quaint enough to keep your smaller items well-organized and easily accessible. Another benefit of this pack is its sternum (equipped with a built-in whistle) and hip straps. While you might think that that’s a bit of overkill for this pack, I really like the additional security. And not to mention, I’ve found that these straps are key whenever I’m riding my bike or skateboard and am using the Daylite as a commuter pack.
After owning this pack for a bit of time, I’ve found that it often replaces my fly fishing vest and that it comes with me mostly everywhere. It fits lunch and any other daily essentials for my trip to work, and it fits more than what I need for a day trip into the woods. One qualm that I do have is that the water bottle pockets don’t have a very snug fit. To solve that, I clipped a carabiner to a compression strap and I haven’t had a problem yet.
If you’re looking for a small bag that packs a big punch, I’d definitely check out Osprey’s Daylite Pack.